Street-indicator.



-B. F. HEBER.

STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED sEPLH. 1912.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

2. 2 MP, A

QRWNQ WITNESS.-

WITNESS:

B. F. HEBER.

STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. II. 1911.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

2 SHEETS-:SHEET 2- IN VENTOR. BIBQ/tlifl in EJ183492 ii/250790? M A TTORNEYS.

entrain srarns PATENT orrioa. 1.

BENJAMIN F. HEBEB, OF SAN FBANCISCQ CALIFORNIA.

STREET-INDICATOR.

'1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. HEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Street-Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a street indicator and particularly to a manually operated device for use in street cars and trains, which will visibly indicate the next street or stopping point.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple, compact device of the character described comprising a casing, and a cylindrical frame journaled in the casing which serves as a carrier for a renewable street or station chart, together with a manually controlled means for intermittently revolving the drum to expose the names on the chart in successive order through a reading aperture formed in the casing. Another object of the invention is to provide a novel spring-actuated driving mechanism, whereby the drum may be ro-' tated, also a reversing mechanism to be employed in conjunction with the same; and, furthermore, to provide a driving connection which permits both longitudinal and rotary movement of the drum. Other objects will hereinafter appear.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts ,as hereinafter more {fully described and 'claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front View of a street indicator. I

Fig. 2 is a central, longitudinal section through the same.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 44 of Fig. i

Referring to the drawings in detail, A indicates in general a 'rectangular-shaped housing constructed of sheet iron or other,

suitable material, in the forward 'side of which is formed an elongated reading aperture 2. Formed as an extension of the housing A is a secondary housing B, in Which. is mounted a spring-actuated driving mechanism consisting of a clock spring 3 which is carried by shaft 4 journaled crosswise of the housing B; the clock spring being Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

Application filed September 11. 1917. Serial No. 190,863.

provided with the usual form to permit the spring to be wound and the tension to be exerted to revolve shaft 4. J ournaled crosswise of the housing man arbor 6 and a shaft 7, and journaled at right angles to the shafts 4, 6 and 7 is a driving shaft 8. Secured upon the shaft 4 1s a main driving gear 9, and intermesh ing w th said gear .is a pair of pinions 10 and 11 which are secured upon the shafts 6 and 7, respectively. i

Plvotally mounted within the housing above shaft 6 is an escapement lever 12, and secured on shaft 6,, in alinement therewith, is a standard form of escapement wheel 13.

Connected with one side of the lever 12is' a spring 14 which normally holds the lever in the position shownfand' connected with the opposite side ofthe lever is an operating cord 15 which may be extended to a point within convenient reach ofthe operator.

Secured on the shaft 7 is a bevel gear'16, and secured on shaft 8 is a pair of bevel gears 17 and 18. Shaft 8 is slidably mounted in its bearings and longitudinal movement may be transmitted'to same to bring either of the gears 1.7 or 18 into or out of mesh with the gear 16 by means of a shifting lever 19 which is also operated by the conductor or operator, and arranged after operation to be locked in position by a spring actuated awl 20. Mounted within the main housing is a cylindrical frame consisting of two end members 21 and 22 which are tied together by rods 23. Surrounding the cylindrical frame is a cover 24, constructed of Wire screen or other suitable material, and adapted to be secured on the cylindrical frame exteriorly of the cover 24 and to be supported by said cover is a street chart 25. One end of the cylinder is provided with a shaft 26, which is secured'in the head 22 and extended out through one end of the shaft 8 and it is not only permitted to revolve about said shaft but it may also move longitudinally thereon, The drumis, however, under normal conditions held in driving engagement with the disk 28 by a spring. 31 which is interposed between the head 21 and a collar 82 securedon the outer end of shaft 8.

V In actual operation, if it is desired to partly rotate the cylinder carrying the street chart 25 to bring a certain street name into reading position with relation to the slot 2, it is only necessary to give the escapement lever a pull by means of the cord 15 This permits the tension of the spring 3; to revolve shaft land the gear 9 secured thereto in the direction of the arrow. This rotation of the gear is transmitted through gearslQ and 11 to revolve the shafts 6 and 7', the revolving movement of; shaft 6 being limited by the spacing of the teeth on the. escapement wheel. The movement of gear 7 is,.'of course, transmitted through the bevel gearlti to revolve either the .gear 17' or 18 secured on shaft 8, the direction of rotation.

of said shaft depending entirely upon which gear happensto be in mesh.

"The spacingofthe street names on the chartan'd the distancebetween theteeth on the'escapementwheel issuch that one row, of streetnames will be brought into register with the reading opening Qea'ch time the escapement lever is pulled; the rows of street names coming into position in succes- "sive "order as they are encountered along the route. It is," therefore, possiblefor the conductor to bring any street or station name into position andlthereby indicate to the passengers the name or the approaching street b station. The reversing mecha nism, that is the gearslT and 18, together withtheshifting lever 19 employed, permits the rotation of shaft 8 to be changed when the end of arunhas beenreached. The cyls inder will be intermittently rotated in the oppositedirection upon the return journey andv the street names will consequently be displayed in; their successive order.

.Thestreet names may be arranged in a n le o ffi e jre Ori re ro as here" shown, The block numbers may also he i at d on aid'ma'nf s ho n For in tance T 'ieb Jr? nd cat to pa -J senger that the; eighteenhundred block on which the car is traveling is beingfla'ppreached. .l is, lsoii sible d at i he nan' esof the streets OVfiilf Which'th'e oar line passesby names and distinguish said names by diiterenticolors, For instance, the names Geary and Market show that the car first [travelsdown Gjeary St. and then en es- Makes- GearyT t; or ins an e. b'e'painted in red upon a green background whileiMarket St. may be printed in green with a redbackground,"oranyother' suitable color. The names of all cross streets. such as "i/Vebster,Filhnore, teiner, etc., may also be colored to conform with the words Geary and Market. If \Vebster St. crosses Geary St, then it is obvious that Webster will be painted red on a green background. This shows that the car is still running on Geary St. If the next street indicated shows green on a red background, then it immediately indicates to the passengers that the car has entered Market St.

This variation in color may be extended tocover any number of streets and thereby serves as a positive indicator showing the name of the street upon which the car is traveling. All cross streets are displayed in successive order as they are approached in the main reading opening 2 and the color in wl'iich they are printed indicates the street upon which the car is traveling.

The disk 28, as previously described, forms a driving connection between the shaft 8 and the cylinder. If for any reason it is desiret to change the posit-ion oi? the cylinder with relation to the driving mechanism it is only necessary to grasp the hand wheel 27 and pull thefcylinder as a whole longitudinally againstthe tension of the spring 31. The pointed ends oi? the rods 30 are thereby pulled out'of'the recesses formed in the driv ing disk and the driving connection is broken- The cylinder" may then be rotated tobring any streetnaine desired into register with the reading opening and a coupling or driving connection between the shaft- 8 and the cylinder is again formed by merely releasing the hand wheel. Such release permits the spring 81 to force the cylinder or the pointed ends 30 back into the recesses of the disk, thus permitting an intermittent rotation to be transmitted to the cylinder when the escapement is operated. The

driving connection between the cylinder and to the cylinder, asimple formof securing means is shown in Figs. 2 and a. This.

means consists of a bar L0 secured between the heads and22'. This bar earriesthree or more' spring-actuated clips 41 @nehend of" the chart or sheet to be secured on the cylinder is merely slipped underone end of the clips. The cylinder is then. rotated to fold the sheet completely around same.

and the free end is then inserted on the other side of the clips 41 and is thus quickly and securely placed in position.

The mechanism as a whole is in reality driven by the clock spring, but power from pl'oyed for the purpose of securing the chart.

said spring can only be transmitted when the escapement lever is manually operated by. the conductor through the cord. It is i also necessary for, the conductor or operator tomanually operate the shifting mechanism. Therefore the essential control resides with the conductor and automatic operations such as have heretofore been relied upon ,to perform the functions here described are entirely eliminated, thus reducing the chances of misinforming the traveling public by displaying wrong street names if the mechanism gets out of time or is otherwise affected.

The mechanism may be. lighted either from the exterior or the interior for night use and the materials and finish of the several parts comprising the machine as a whole may be such as the experience and judgment of the manufacturer may dictate.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patcut is 1. A street indicator comprising a casing having a reading aperture formed therein, a cylinder within the casing supportlng a street chart, a driving shaft, means for rotating said shaft, a coupling member between said shaft and the cylinder, and means permitting longitudinal movement of the cylinder to release it with relation to the coupling and to permit the cylinder to be rotated independently of the coupling and the driving shaft.

2. A street indicator comprising a casing having a reading aperture formed therein, a cylinder within the casing supporting a street chart, a shaft secured in one end of the cylinder supporting said end of the cylinder, said shaft being journaled 1n the casing and adapted to be moved longitudinally therein, a driving shaft supporting the opposite end of the cylinder, said cylinder being freely turnable and longitudinally movable on the driving shaft, a coupling on the driving shaft adapted to form a drlving connection between the shaft and the cylinder, and means for driving said shaft.

3. A street indicator comprisinga casing having a reading aperture formed therein, a cylinder within the casing supporting a street chart, a shaft secured in one end of thecylinder supporting sald end of the cylinder, said shaft being journaled 1n the casing and adapted to be moved longitudinally therein, a driving shaft supporting the opposite end of the cylinder, said cylinder being freely turnable and longitudinally movable on the driving shaft, a disk secured on the driving shaft having a series of interspaced recesses formed in one side, p1ns on the cylinder adapted to be received by 7 said recesses to form a driving connection between the disk and the cyl1nder, a collar on the end of the driving shaft, and a street chart, a shaft secured in one end of the cylinder supporting said end of the cylinder, said shaft being journaled in the casing and adapted to be moved longitudinally therein, a driving shaft supporting the opposite end of the cylinder, said cylinder being freely turnable and longitudinally movable on the driving shaft, a disk secured on the driving shaft having a series'of interspaced recesses formed in one side, pins on the cylinder adapted to be received by said recesses to form a driving connection between the disk and the cylinder, a collar on the end of the driving shaft, a spring interposed between said collar and the cylinder to normally maintain the cylinder pins in engagement with the recesses, and means for moving the cylinder longitudinally to pull the pins out of driving engagement with the disk and to permit the cylinder to be rotated independently of the driving shaft.

5. A street indicator comprising a casing having a reading aperture formed therein, a cylinder within the casing supporting a street chart, a driving shaft supporting the cylinder, a pair of interspaced bevel gears secured on the driving shaft, a second shaft journaled in the casing at right angles to the driving shaft, a bevel gear secured on said shaft, means for moving the driving shaft longitudinally in either direction to bring one of the first named bevel gears into mesh with the last named gears, means for securing the driving shaft against longitudinal movement when either of the first named bevel gears are in mesh, and means for transmitting a partial rotary movement to the second shaft.

6. In a street car indicator, a shaft, a disk rigid on the shaft and having perforations therein, means to drive the shaft, a cylinder having an endmounted on the shaft, pins on the cylinder engageable in said perforations 1 of the disk, a coil spring secured at one end to the shaft andhaving its other end abutting said end of the cylinder, and manual means to slide the cylinder on said shaft to disengage the pins thereof from the disk.

7. In a street car indicator, a longitudinally movable driving shaft, a cylinder supported at one end on said driving shaft, reversible driving means for said driving shaft, and means to reverse said driving means by sliding said driving shaft so as to rotate the cylinder in all positions of the driving shaft.

8. In a street car indicator, driving means, a cylinder slidably connected to said driving means, means connected to the driving means to couple the cylinder to said driving means, and'means to slide thecylinder to release same from saidd riving means;

9. In a street car in'clicator, a slidable driving shaft, a cylinder connected to the driving shaft, coupling means between the cylinder and shaft, reversible means to drive the shaft, and'mea-ns to slide thesh'aft' so as to effect driving of the cylinder in ail positions of the shaft.

10. In a streetcar indieator, a shaft, a cylinder-having an end' mounted on the shaft, a coupling member rigid'on the shaft,

means-borne by the cylinder-t0 engage the coupling, reversible driving means for the shaft, and nlea ns to slide thesha-ft to reverse same so as to effect rotation of-the' cylinder according to the direction of'rotationof the shaft;

In testimony WhBIBOf'I haVB hereunto-set my hand in the presence o-f'twosubs'oribing Witnesses;

, BENJAMIN F. HEBER- WVitn'esses W, W. HEALEY, M. E. EWING.

copis df this patent maybe obtained for fiire cents each, byfaddressingaithe Commissioner of Patent-s, wasmn tammc." 

